IELTS requirements
What IELTS score do you need for Germany?
Germany has no national English-language threshold, and that is not an oversight — it is how the system works. DAAD, the official body for international study in Germany, declines to name a band at all, because the requirement belongs to the individual degree programme.
What DAAD actually says
Two statements from DAAD's requirements overview set the rule. First, that English-taught programmes swap the German-language requirement for an English one: "International degree programmes or postgraduate programmes taught in English are exempt from these requirements. You will instead need to show proof of your English language skills." Second, that the level is programme-specific: "Higher education institutions may only recognise a specific set of language certificates and the required minimum language level is often determined by the degree programme you're wanting to take."
A worked example
From DAAD's own International Programmes database, to show the shape of a real requirement rather than a made-up average.
- Data Science M.Sc., Fulda University of Applied Sciences
- 6.5 or higher
How to find your number
Search the DAAD International Programmes database for your subject, open the programme, and read its language requirements directly. Two programmes in the same subject at different universities can differ by a full band — so the only number that matters is the one on your programme's page.
What we don't claim
We do not publish a German "typical range". Other programme figures circulate widely (some programmes accept 5.5 as B2 evidence, language-heavy degrees ask 7.0), but we have not verified them against their own programme pages, so we do not state them. German student-visa language rules were not researched here.
Sources
Every figure above comes from the body that sets it. Requirements change — check the source before you rely on a number.
- 1daad.deEnglish-taught programmes require English proof; institutions and programmes set the level; no national band named
- 2www2.daad.deData Science M.Sc. at Fulda UAS requires IELTS 6.5 or higher
Retrieved 22 July 2026
Now find out where you actually stand.
Knowing the number is the easy half. Sit a full mock under real exam conditions — timers that don't pause, audio that plays once — and find out which skill is holding your band down, before it costs you an application.